Katharine Vincent, Tracy Cull and Alec Joubert, Kulima Integrated Development Solutions
The weather and climate affects all of us, through determining the clothes we plan to wear, or when we plan an outdoor activity. For many people the weather directly affects their ability to make a living. Farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture may not get a harvest if there is a drought, which can affect their food security, and that of their family.
But as well as affecting us directly, weather and climate also indirectly affects the decisions we make. Town planners need to know the likelihood that a river will flood so that they can zone the area appropriately. High density land uses should not be allowed because of the risk of flooding, and any essential infrastructure, such as roads and electricity pipelines, must be built to a higher specification that allows them to withstand exposure to floods. Banks and other financial institutions need to know the risks of longer-term climate change, so that they do not make poor investment decisions. Various types of weather and climate information are needed, depending on the purpose.
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| Farmers dependent on rain-fed agriculture may not get a harvest if there is a drought, which can affect their food security, and that of their family.
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Town planners need to know the likelihood that a river will flood so that they can zone the area appropriately.
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The Weather and Climate theme page on the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas portal aims to address the demand for weather and climate information for South Africans, depending on their needs. It does this in two ways. Firstly information is available on a variety of timescales, from weather, to seasonal forecasts, to dynamically-downscaled climate projections, provided by CSIR. Secondly examples are provided of how different decision-makers use that information to inform their decision-making, provided by Kulima Integrated Development Solutions.
Weather forecasts provide information on rainfall, temperature, and wind for the next seven days. Seasonal forecasts provide the likelihood that rainfall and temperatures will differ from the average over the next three month period. Dynamically-downscaled climate projections provide information on temperature, rainfall and weather extremes for three time periods: 2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100.
In the section on climate and society, there is a page of resources, and also one of upcoming relevant events. Recent examples of the use of weather and climate information come from the 15th Southern African Climate Outlook Forum and related training, held in Windhoek in late August. The Southern African Climate Outlook Forum is an annual event that brings together representatives of the national meteorological and hydrological services from the SADC region to develop a consensus-based probabilistic seasonal forecast for the forthcoming summer season.
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| Examples of maps available on the theme page: Four-day instability index; and Four-day 1000Pa wind forecasts (m/s).
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Alongside this, the SADC Disaster Risk Reduction Unit, in partnership with the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) hosted a disaster risk reduction (DRR) stakeholders training workshop. In this, disaster managers from across the region discussed their needs for climate information and proposed additions, modifications and improvements to forecasts, which scientists agreed to take onboard in order to promote better integration of climate information into disaster planning in the future.
If there are particular examples of the use of weather and climate information that you would like to see, please do not hesitate to contact us. Similarly if you have an example of how you use weather and climate information, we would love to hear from you.
Visit the Weather and Climate theme page for more information.
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